What is Responsive Web Design and Why is it Important?

Have you ever browsed a website on your iPad, and found only one-half of the website was visible, images were skewed and all over the place?

No amount of zooming out helps, because the website was never designed keeping mobile devices in mind. Today, responsive web design is an essential part of a browsing experience. With the wide-spread usage of smartphones and tablets, the approach towards design and user experience has gained a lot of steam.

What is responsive web design?

In layman terms, responsive web design is when a website is rendered keeping in mind what device requested the website. When the website has built in intelligence to respond to user’s device preferences automatically, it saves the time and resources required to create a new version of the site every time a new gadget enters the market.

The Importance of responsive web design:

Tapping into the tablet and mobile phone audience: With the increasing use of mobile and handheld devices, responsive web design is important for businesses looking to maximize their online reach. Conventionally, a website address redirects to a device specific site once you type in the web address from a device other than the computer.

Responsive design on the other hand would adapt to any screen size. The layouts are fluid and dynamically spread out or draw in to fill an allotted space on the screen, without distorting images that can ruin user experience.

Responsive web design is cost-effective: The traditional approach until now was to create a web page for laptop and desktops and an additional site that was mobile friendly. This takes a lot of time and money. The biggest advantage of adopting a responsive design is that it conforms to the need of all devices.

Developing a single responsive website is substantially cheaper than developing two traditional websites. As Google now factors in your websites mobile readiness for ranking, it is important to have a responsive website if you don’t already have one. And if you’re starting out make sure you create one that is responsive that will help you rank higher.

Enhancing offline browsing experience: Many smartphones browsers are now HTML5 enabled. A responsive web design allows the users to continue viewing and accessing content in the absence of internet connection. You will have access to emails and newsletters offline.

Improved SEO visibility: A responsive web design helps reduce the bounce rates of your website. As people hang around longer, it will also mean higher search engine visibility and as everyone knows search engine optimization is essential to any business.

Not only will responsive design help your bounce rate, but it is also the preferred method of website design per Google themselves.

Google Analytics now caters to responsive design by condensing the tracking into a single report so that the webpage owner can see how their page is performing across all devices.

Higher conversion rates: Maintaining a uniform user experience across all devices is the key to make sure that your customers have a consistent brand image and also increase conversion. When you are deciding on subscribing to a service, you do not want to wait while being redirected to a device-specific website. There’s a good chance that the user might lose interest in the process and close the tab. The inclination of the user to turn to a competitor’s website in frustration will be significantly reduced with a responsive website.

Quicker web-pages:According to numerous studies a mobile visitor will close out a webpage if the page takes longer than three seconds to load on the screen completely. This is a common problem when a site is not optimized for handheld devices. It can have future implications of a user not returning to the site again. One of the various methods used in a responsive website called caching is used to increase the web page loading speed.

Why is all this important?

This is all important because all of these points are all enhancing the user experience. The user experience is vital to the success of your business and the conversion of customers. Make the experience good for your customer, and your customers will reward you. If you’re interested in further reading on content check out our blog on Web Design: 6 Ways To Improve User Experience And Engagement.

If your business has a website that’s not optimized for mobile devices or you’re planning to build one for your new business, get it touch with our web design experts. Results Driven Marketing has been designing websites and using the latest trends in the industry for over a decade. Contact us at (215) 393-8700 if you have any questions or need help creating a website that drives in more customers.